Lotto Winner Gets Caught Up on Child Support

Wednesday

Nov 22, 2006 at 3:17 AMNov 22, 2006 at 5:46 AM

By DANA WILLHOIT The Ledger

LAKELAND - When Lakeland's recent Florida Lotto winner, Abraham Shakespeare, went to collect his $16.9 million check, the Florida Department of Revenue was there first. Shakespeare owed the mother of his five-year-old son $8,612 in child support, according to Polk County court records. The Florida Department of Revenue deducted that amount, plus $505 in court costs, from Shakespeare's winning check, according to Florida lottery spokesman Alfred Bea.

The money will be paid to Shakespeare's ex-girlfriend, the child's mother, during the first week of December.

According to the Florida Department of Revenue's child support enforcement Web site, the department has the authority to intercept IRS tax refunds, Florida lottery winnings, unemployment compensation and workers compensation.

Renee Watters, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, said that the department sends the Florida Lottery an electronic list of noncustodial parents who owe child support. Lottery winners cannot collect their check until their child-support obligations are paid.

Shakespeare, 40, had only paid $108 in child support this year as of May, and he was not making his regular child support payments of $49 per week plus $10 per week for retroactive child support obligations.

He was arrested Oct. 16 on a charge of failure to pay child support. He was released from the Polk County Jail three days later after paying $200 toward the past-due amount, according to court records.

Neither Shakespeare nor his ex- girlfriend could be reached Tuesday evening. According to a Florida Lottery news release, Shakespeare was an assistant truck driver for the food distribution corporation MBM. Shakespeare said he was going to spend some of the money on a new home for himself and his mother and new cars for himself and his girlfriend, the release said.